In its first year under CMO Diego Scotti, Verizon tapped into its sports partnerships to offer its customers content and access they cannot get from any other carrier. In fact, Scotti, who sat down with Momentum Worldwide Chair & CEO Chris Weil at the '15 Momentum Sports Marketing Symposium on Thursday, said the company is “doubling down” on sponsorship because it “really helps our business when it’s done right.” The company last week signed a content-based deal with the NBA, and while details are still sparse, a look at how Verizon has leveraged its partnership with the NFL offers an idea of what it might have planned in basketball. Scotti called the Verizon NFL Mobile app one of the cornerstones of its relationship with the league, as it provides customers with free content they cannot get anywhere else, including the ability to stream local games live on mobile. He said engagement with the app has doubled since last year, which not only shows that customers are finding value in the app, but also means they are using more data to access the content, which is inherently profitable for Verizon.

ARE YOU EXPERIENCED? But even beyond the app, Scotti touted how Verizon is leveraging the NFL deal to offer customers at games upgrades and access. Scotti: “We’re actually monitoring people on social media, using social listening tools to identify people that are there, and what we do is we actually connect directly with those customers and offer them a special opportunity for that day: an upgrade on seats, special access to behind-the-scenes facilities. And what then happens is they take that, and everybody posts everything today, and the social amplification that comes from that surprise-and-delight opportunity is incredible.” The company has applied the same concept to non-sports experiences through its #WhyNotWednesday initiative, offering experiences like Lyft rides in “Back to the Future”-style DeLorean cars and behind-the-scenes access to the MTV Video Music Awards. Scotti said this approach has led to customers expressing positive sentiments about the company on social media, a rarity in an industry plagued by consumer complaints about anything from price to functionality.

TALKIN' BOUT MY GENERATION: Providing further insight into the company’s plans to activate around the NBA partnership, Scotti praised the league’s appeal to 18- to 34-year olds around the world. Scotti: “There’s no better time than today to actually partner with the NBA because they made this amazing shift toward capturing the imagination of millions of millennials everywhere in the world. So that’s very important to us.” Verizon’s recently launched OTT product, Go90, is specifically aimed at Millennials, as in addition to being a mobile platform it allows users to cut and share content directly from the app. Users can expect exclusive NBA content to appear on the platform shortly.